Women,Poverty,and the Epidemic in China: Case Studies on Rural People Living with HIV/AIDS

Abstract

Based on in-depth interviews with 110 People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), this qualitative study is a preliminary endeavor to delineate the socio-cultural scripts of rural PLWHA in China including their illness experience, everyday lives, and strategies of coping with stigma, poverty, and social barriers. This study documents the new wave of the “feminization of HIV/AIDS” in China. There is a gender difference of infection routes. Women were infected through heterosexual contact much more frequently than men. This study also discusses power struggles and gender asymmetries between rural couples living with HIV/AIDS, especially on the issues of “disclosure of the illness” and “condom negotiation.” Even when the disease has changed the family structure and women become the main financial supporters, gender inequality within a family is not changed in that women remain not the main decision makers and continue to suffer most from poverty. In conclusion, this article locates women's HIV-related experience within the social ecology of HIV/AIDS, and explores how gender inequality intersects with traditional customs and ethics, economic and political policy, medical system, and patriarchal values to heighten women's vulnerability to both the illness and poverty.

Keywords

HIV/AIDS gender poverty China

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bossen

(2002). Chinese women and rural development: Sixty years of change in Lu Village, Yunnan. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Cunha

(2007). South African politics, inequalities, and HIV/AIDS : Applications for public health education. Journal of Developing Societies, 23(1-2), 207–219

Erni

J. N.

(2006). Epidemic imaginary: Performing global figurations of “Third World AIDS.” Space and Culture, 9 (4), 429–452

Fei

Zhang

(2006). Earthbound China (Yunnan San Chun). Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

Harvey

S. M.

Beckman

L. J.

Gerend

M. A.

Bird

S. T.

Posner

Huszti

H. C.

(2006). A conceptual model of women's condom use intentions: Integrating intrapersonal and relationship factors. AIDS Care, 18 (7), 698–709

(2006). Power, right, and social justice: Gender and HIV/AIDS under the global perspective. Paper presented at the International Conference on Health and Development

Jacka

(2006). Rural women in urban China: Gender, migration, and social change. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Jin

Tang

Zhao

(2004). HIV/AIDS and poverty relief work: Case study of Henan. In Jin

(Ed.), AIDS in China (pp. 225–241). Beijing: IPHCC.

Sun

Lin

Yan

(2007). Disclosure of HIV status is a family matter: Field notes from China. Journal of Family Psychology, 21 (2), 307–314

10.

Tang

(2005). The study on AIDS and poverty. China Rural Area Observation, 3, 63–71

11.

Lin

McElmurry

J. B.

Christiansen

(2007). Women and HIV/AIDS in China: Gender and vulnerability. Health Care for Women International, 28, 680–699

12.

Ministry of Health. (2004). The report on HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude, and behavior among Chinese citizens. Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://www.aizhi.net

13.

Patna

Rifkin

S. B.

(2007). Equity, empowerment and choice: From theory to practice in public health. Journal of Health Psychology, 12 (3), 517–530

14.

Scott-Sheldon

L. A. J.

Marsh

K. L.

Johnson

B. T.

Glasford

D. E.

(2006). Condoms + pleasure = safer sex? A missing addend in the safer sex message. AIDS Care, 18 (7), 750–754

15.

State Council AIDS Working Committee Office & UNAIDS. (2004). The assessment report on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in China. Available at http://www.unaids.org.cn/en/index/

16.

State Council AIDS Working Committee Office & UNAIDS. (2007). Report on China HIV/AIDS prevention and control assessment. Available at http://www.unaids.org.cn/en/index/

17.

UNAIDS & WHO. (2006). 2006: The global report on HIV/AIDS. Available at http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/Epidemiology/epiworkinggrp.asp

18.

Wang

(2005). Gender analysis of theoretical hypothesis in urban poverty-related mainstream survey method. In Tan

Liu

Jiang

Nin

(Eds.), Review on the Chinese women's studies in recent 10 years: Response to the Beijing platform for action (pp. 30–48). Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

19.

Wei

Hui

(2005). Education to raise awareness of reproductive health: An important variable in poverty alleviation of women in poor areas—A case study of the rural areas in central Gansu province. In Tan

Liu

Jiang

Nin

(Eds.), Review on the Chinese women's studies in recent 10 years: Response to the Beijing platform for action. Beijing: Social Science Academic Press.

20.

Yang

Stanton

Fang

Lin

Naar-King

(2006). HIV-related knowledge, stigma, and willingness to disclose: A mediation analysis. AIDS Care, 18 (7), 717–724

21.

Zhou

R. Y.

(2008). Endangered womanhood: Women's experience with HIV/AIDS in China, Qualitative Health Research, 18 (8), 1115–1126